Google signals end of Glass gadget

Four years
after unveiling its wearable glass headset, Alphabet’s Google shut down several
social media accounts linked to the Glass gadget, ending its push to popularize
the pricey eyeglasses with consumers, Reuters
reported.

On Tuesday,
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts for Google Glass were no longer

Four years
after unveiling its wearable glass headset, Alphabet’s Google shut down several
social media accounts linked to the Glass gadget, ending its push to popularize
the pricey eyeglasses with consumers, Reuters
reported.

On Tuesday,
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts for Google Glass were no longer
active, a development first reported on the website 9to5Google.

A statement
on the Google Plus page said: “Hi Explorers, we’ve had a blast hanging out with
you on G+ throughout the Explorer Program.” It went on to instruct users to get
in touch with questions on the support page for Glass.

The company
declined to comment on the decision.

Google
stopped selling Glass to consumers last year noting that it was time for a strategy
reset, and the head of the Google X research lab has since then said that the
hype surrounding the $1,500 device became overblown considering it was merely a
prototype and not a finished product.

Glass was
greeted with enthusiasm among tech aficionados when it was first unveiled in
2012. But the device, which allows users to access e-mail messages on its
eye-level screen and to record video with a tiny camera, quickly ran into
problems. Some mocked its awkward appearance, while others expressed concern it
could be used to make video recordings surreptitiously.

On Twitter,
many interpreted the disappearance of Glass’s social accounts on Tuesday to
mean a final end to efforts to market the product to consumers.